What is culture?

View more presentations from Nurhayati Khan.

Evil/Ivy/10S403

The author states that society denies against evil because it seems "extreme". I agree with the author as human beings would most of the time prefer to sit on the fence as they often find supporting one extreme would mean trouble. This is evident especially when people are faced with a dilemma, for example, when a man is sandwiched between an argument between his wife and his mother. Most of the time he would not take sides as he is afraid of hurting the other party or risking their relationship. The same goes to evil, evil is a very subjective term and varies from person to person. Society, most of the time would prefer to 'see no evil' as it would imply that the society is all good. However, this may not apply to the whole of society, there are some people with courage to admit to the existence of evil by not sitting on the fence and such acts are getting more popular these days. This could be seen from the increase in numbers of children willing to seek help when being abused or bullied.

In order to deal with evil, the author believes that 'we must do all we can to not dehumanize or demonize others.' I disagree to some extent, as often those who commit evil lack human feelings and conscience, this is because the term 'evil' is an extreme word, merely saying someone who for example, breaks rules and regulations in an institution, such as school would not be called as evil but one who murders with a plan to escape punishments and with motive behind, especially one that is wicked is often one who is incurable, hence it would be proven much difficulty to not demonise them. hence, i find the author's arguments unconvincing.

NJC07~Christopher~*(のヮの)*

From Passage 1. the author argues that children are groomed to be passive from young. In my opinion, this view is applicable to today's world. As parents tend to be more protective of their children these days, they often do many things for their children, giving them a passive role in the life as they do not have to do much. In the past, parents were not so protective and allowed their children to learn how to perform tasks themselves, so as to groom them to be independent. However, this is absent in today's world. Because they are not taught how to do things themselves, they tend to rely on others a lot. If they do not see others doing anything, they will also not do anything as they are taught not to be independent and to think for themselves as their parents do most of the thinking for them. However, this does not apply to all children as some parents may want their children to be independent from young, especially if the parents are busy and have little time to take care of the kids. They will try to let their children learn things on their own so they are able to accomplish things without the help of other people. This way, they will not have to rely on others for help and they will be able to be active in their own life.

From Passage 2, the author argues that people will be disliked if they stand out from the norm. This is also applicable in today's world as in most societies, people tend to treat people that deviate from the norm as weird, and they will ostracize the odd one out. This is because most people do not dare to stand out, and those who stand out have no one to side with them as everyone feels safer and more secure in a group. Thus, they will not want to be the only one on the opposing side as everyone will be against them. However, this is not always the case as some people might not be afraid to stand up to the crowds. In the case, they might be able to change the minds of others to join their cause. Also, by standing out, some people may be able to become more popular as a result, for example, many artistes choose to have very shocking outfits and images to get more fans. Thus, standing out does not always mean that people will hate them.

Our society can deal with this by allowing children to be more independent by teaching them to do tasks by themselves from young, such as kindergarten. For example, getting their own food. This helps them stand on their own two feet instead of always relying on others. They are able to do what they want and will not become so passive when they grow up.

DHS08_Utopia/ Wu Xin Fang/ 10s403


The author argues that attempts to create and drive utopias have been dangerous, enduring and futile. How far do you agree with his view?


The author states that 'a conflict free existence is impossible for humans, and whenever it is attempted, the result is intolerable to them for they soon find themselves wanting or needing different things, which ultimately leads to a state of tension once again.' In other words, the attempts to create utopia is pointless because people would eventually end up fighting against one another for self-interest. Humans are 'the proposed agents of such change, are fraught with temptations and weaknesses.' Indeed, i agree with the author's point that it is an unrealistic aim to achieve complete world peace, harmony and equality. Due to the modern world we are living in today, most are forced to grow up in an individualistic environment. The uniqueness of each individuals caused them to have different likings, different wants and desires. It is almost an inpossible task for people to be homogeneous and accept one another's differences, not to even mention creating utopias. Perhaps, it is a human nature to be selfish. Most people want the best for themselves, and unknowingly, creates a competitive edge which could result in unhappiness, and even conflicts. For example, Stalin's communist ruling did not work out, instead the outcome was disastrous. Countless people died and suffered. However, the attempts to create utopia were not completely futile. Instead, it can improve social cohesion within a small and controlled community. For example, Simgapore has enjoyed years of racial harmony with the government's effort to ensure equality of races. The government has always set their goals as creating an ideal living space for their citizens. Therefore, it is not entirely true that the attempts to create and drive utopias have been futile. At least, the attempts have healthy impacts on small scale society. The efforts cannot be neglected. But overall, it is still unrealistic and pointless to attempt achieving complete utopias in the world.

Also, the author claims that ' the lure of hope can also make us deaf and blind to what is around us.' Hope is the reason why people are still attempting in achieving utopia despite its several failures. It is dangerous as people become too driven in wanting to achieve utopia such that they forgot to listen and accept other's view. I agree to the author's point to a small extent. Although it is true that sometimes people tend to become oblivious to their surroundings as they are too focus in achieving the impossible task. Often, they forgot the true meaning of it and hence, the result is worse than before. Taking communism as an example again, Stalin's goal of achieving equality, believing that communism could stop all sufferings, turned out to be one of the worst historical period. Stalin's ruthlessness led to the death of million innocents. The lost cannot be compensated. The risk is dangerous and can be deadly too. However, we can now put a stop to it and not let the painful history repeat itself again. It is not entirely true that 'hope can make us deaf and blind'. It makes us want to improve ourselves. It does not neccessarily make us deaf and blind, provided that we know our boundaries and know not to go overboard by our aims. Perhaps, people should lower their expectation of a utopia space and work towards achieving harmony, then it would not be dangerous.

Education-Jieyao-10s403

The author states that "Many jobs that never before required college now call for at least some post-secondary course work.". The world now has become more competitive and educated due to the education becoming widely available in most countries. As people become more educated, they would be able to learn new skills faster and master them. This has created competition amongst people to be able to receive higher education as they would need to gain an advantage over others in order for them to get employment. In Singapore's society, more students are encouraged to or rather, forced to go for higher education like enrolling in universities. This can be seen by the amount of career talks available from secondary school onwards where these talks are mainly conducted by universities who would tell students more about for their courses available. With these talks, more and more students would be encouraged to enter universities and thus, creating an abundance of workers who have at least a university degree, hence, the need for post secondary course work for jobs.


The author also states that "They are not ready for high school, some of them, much less for college." because they may be ignorant of the pressure and work present in higher education or they may not know how to apply what they have learnt. When these people attempt to pursue higher education, they may instead fail to complete the education as they may not yet be ready for it. Also, they may be pursuing higher education just for the sake of getting a job instead of choosing what thy really wants. In SIngapore, we have several alternatives for students to choose if they feel that they are not yet ready for higher education. There is the ITE where students learn skills that can be applied in the real world so that they would be able to earn a living, and also polytechnics which offers students a chance to learn a particular set of skills which may be their passion. This would enable them to go out to work immediately after the completion. Also, there is even an arts school where students learn about music, art and others. All these would provide students with a chance to learn valuable skills that can be used in the real world and they would not need to pursue any higher education.

Population and demographics AQ/Eunice/10s403

The author in passage1 states that population will decline due to women being more educated. The increase in literacy rate in women has allowed them to have more "social and economic options in today's rich countries", which led to a delay in them having children. This has "pulled fertility below the natural replacement rate." The threat that this pose is that there is too much food which might affect exports and widen income inequality between the rich and poor countries. I agree that this point is relevant to Singapore because women here enjoy equal education rights as men and thus are highly-educated as well. Many women are pursuing careers and are reluctant to put their careers on hold to form a family. For example, our government have put in a lot of measures to try and get the birth rates up through baby bonus schemes and extended maternity leave. Hence, Singapore is also facing a declining birth rate and this is due to women being highly-educated as well. However, the view is not true that rich and poor countries will be even more segregated. People from poor countries are given opportunities to study in other countries to allow them to get a better job in the future and hence up their standard of living in their hometowns. For example, Singapore gives out ASEAN scholarships to allow students from poor Southeast Asian countries to study here. Therefore, the point that the author made that population decline will widen the rich and poor countries' gap is not relevant to Singapore.

The author in passage2 mentioned that sub-replacement fertility is due to graying population and population decline. This argument is relevant to Singapore because we are facing sub-replacement fertility and experiencing population decline and graying population as well. Due to a threat on our sustainability caused by the sub-replacement fertility, our government has put in measures to counter the graying population and population decline issues. For example, retired workers are encouraged to return to the workforce, retirement age has been increased and baby bonus schemes have been put in place to encourage people to have more babies. Hence, the author's point is relevant to the Singapore society. However, the point is not entirely true because our sub-replacement fertility could be due to other reasons like standard of living. Due to the high costs of living in Singapore, people are unsure about raising children as they are afraid they might be financially challenged. For example, people are choosing to have only one or two kids relative to more than five in the past. Hence, this point is not relevant to Singapore as it did not account for other possible reasons.

Therefore, the argument presented in passage2 is more relevant to Singapore because it gives more insight to the sub-replacement fertility issue.

AQ/Tan Ping Hao/10s403

The author in Passage 1 states that "The society operates on the assumption that they not only can be taught, but must be." I agree with the author that the society must be taught as without education on moral values and the culture of shame as without it, children would end up growing up not knowing how to lead their lives. We are not born with natural morally correct instincts, and have to be guided to the correct paths in life. There are many examples of such an education being implemented, such as the civics and moral education in schools in Singapore which is compulsory for all students. However, the society may not respond appropriately to the teachings implemented. It is clear that even with moral values being taught to the society, the society still chooses to ignore these values, or consider them irrelevant and unimportant. This results in the disasters caused such a lack of moral values. Some examples include abuse cases and teenage pregnancies. In fact, some societies in other, more liberal countries do not even operate on the assumption that the society must be taught moral values, and consider actions fuelled by a lack of moral values as a norm in their society. However, the idea in passage 1 is relevant to our society as Singapore is still considered more traditional than liberal today, and places much importance of the upbringing of their children. Acts caused by a lack of moral values, such as rape, teenage pregnancy or abuse, are still deeply frowned upon and not considered a norm in society at all. The government also places much empahsis on the importance of our values through education and campaigns, in order to make sure that even though Singapore progresses, her civillians are still able to maintain and pass on their values to later generations.

The author in Passage 2 states that "We are, very simply, unprepared for dealing with pangs of shame or for undertaking spiritual soul-searching." I agree with this as while the society is progressing materiallistically, we remain stagnant when it comes to spiritual well-being. The society today is driven by economic progression and the improvement in technology and other material gains, so much so that the basic value of conscience and humility are ignored. Students are trained to deal with problems at work or school and are educated in problem-solving methods, but they are uncertain and apprehensive when it comes to the culture of shame. With a higher standard of living, people nowadays also become more complacent and confident of themselves, and do not try to assess themselves. For example, a businessman may be more driven by profit than how morally correct his methods to gain profit are. They have little shame in what they do, as long as profit is earned. This idea is applicable to my society as Singapore is fast progressing economically and with our higher standard of living and quality of life, humility has become a rarity.